How to make a Paper Heart Valentine–An Eco-friendly DIY Creation

Instead of buying an expensive card and overpriced chocolates, why not make your own Valentine? Just follow these instructions (and please excuse the bad photography):

1. Fold a square piece of paper in half.

2. Fold it in half again.

3. Now fold it in thirds.

4. Cut the top off.

5. Cut out some shapes, leaving some space near the pointy end.

6. Unfold partway so you can cut out half of a heart from the center.

7. Unfold to reveal your beautiful paper heart Valentine. If you want to get really fancy, you can even glue this creation to a piece of red paper.

Making my own Valentines has always worked for me. For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, head on over to Rocks in My Dryer. Check back tomorrow for our own Thrifty Green Thursday blog carnival for Joy’s DIY Valentine idea!

Thanks for letting us know about that, Caryn! I am not sure what to do about those picture-stealers. . . .

As for the “fold in thirds” step, I will try to explain it. You will have a triangle after folding the square paper in half twice (steps one and two). Put the triangle on the table with the pointy-end facing towards you. Then fold one side over a third of the way, then the other side over. This is how you fold snowflakes as well. I am really bad at describing this! Let me know if you still can’t figure it out!

I did this tonight with my son and they turned out beautiful! When cutting the random shapes, I cut in one half-heart. So there was a big heart in the middle of the “snowflake” and tiny hearts surrounding it! =)

For Step 3, you will basically fold the triangle from one side to the other in 3rds. Assuming you folded it correctly, if you unfold it back to a triangle, you will see 3 fold lines across the triangle in exact widths apart. It doesn’t have to be perfect though. You are basically just folding a triangle several times to cut shapes out.

Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page.Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.